This was to be a short day since my flight back to Zurich left at 16:10. I woke up thinking I must go back to the fan shop to buy some gifts. Cristina had pulled out some of her favorite hat books for me to see and I enjoyed looking through them. I may have to add a couple of Japanese books to my collection. Did you know that Japan is the largest hat market in the world? Pale skin is considered beautiful there. The US is not even included in the list so few hats are purchased there (The Hat Magazine data).
When I tore myself away from the books and wandered out of my guest room I must have mentioned one of Cristina’s beautiful brooches. She asked if I would like to see her collection. Would I !!! Little did I know that she has acquired an extensive collection of 40s and 50s American costume jewelry she’s purchased on eBay. She traveled with her collection to the UK recently to be filmed by the BBC’s Antiques Road Show. 
Watch for that program in September if you can get the BBC. I couldn’t decided which of these beauties was my favorite. They are all so much fun! Can’t you just see them on hats too? That’s where I wear most of my brooches.
Since it was a short day for me we got dressed and headed out the door. This time we took an air conditioned bus and found this Antique Show on the street near Placa Catalunya. Cristina says this one is very overpriced but it was fun to wander by and see the goodies. 
Isn’t Cristina’s straw braid hat adorable? 
We headed back to Alonso for more fans where the proprietress inspected and admired our hats and told us we looked like tourists (because of the hats). She said it in a nice way tho’ so we didn’t take offense.
I’d been looking for a new black leather belt and had not found the right one yet so we wandered into Zara, a Spanish clothing chain that has trendy things at good prices. The belt was not to be but I fell for a luscious brown short jacket with a drawstring cowl collar (sorry no picture yet) as well as a trim black and white polka dot silk blouse on sale. Yippeee! We spent quite a bit of time poking around here and trying on the trendy high high heeled shoes too. I failed to mention in yesterday’s post that we’d also hit a fabric store on my first day where I purchased some gorgeous remnants, one a green raw silk and the other an orange filmy cotton rayon print for a blouse or skirt. Shopping is fun anywhere.
At last we headed back to collect my luggage (one tote - by now crammed to the top) and stopped off at a neighborhood bistro for a tasty lunch. We started with gazpacho again. Then we had these calamarite sauteed instead of deep fried. They came with a garlic parsley olive oil. Simple and absolutely delicious! 
Dessert was included so we had these traditional ice cream goodies that were not large enough to make us feel guilty.
Then we were off to the airport. THANK YOU, Cristina and Peter for a wonderful introduction to Barcelona. I have totally fallen in love with it and feel I have made delightful new friends. I am looking forward to showing you some of Switzerland when you come to visit me.
Kate Q:-)
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